It turns out Dodgers' obsession with Santiago Espinal during spring training was all for nothing

It's impossible to say what makes a team really fall in love with an obscure or fringe player, but Santiago Espinal had the secret sauce in Dodgers' spring training.

It took Espinal all of 45 at-bats in spring training to have the Dodgers enamored. Dave Roberts said early on that he fit in seamlessly, and it would be hard to see a world in which he didn't make the Opening Day roster. Espinal's spring numbers were great, but all that praise based on such a small sample size probably didn't make Hyeseong Kim feel very good.

But it turned out okay. All of Espinal, Kim, and Alex Freeland, the candidates in the Dodgers' only real position battle of spring training, ended up on the roster with Mookie Betts, Kiké Hernández, and Tommy Edman on the IL.

However, with Hernández having just started a rehab assignment and in Triple-A, a roster move is incoming. At this point, it's pretty obvious that Espinal will be the one to get the push.

Despite falling in love at first blush, he's hitting .192 with a .462 OPS in 26 at-bats. He hasn't walked at all and has struck out twice.

Santiago Espinal has turned back into a pumpkin despite Dodgers' early obsession with him

Espinal was never going to be a big part of the Dodgers' equation, but they hoped he'd be able to pick up the occasional pinch-hit at bat to some success, at least. Failing that, maybe some quality defense? Espinal is just about league average at second and third base, too.

Betts might not be too far behind Hernández in terms of recovery, in which case the Dodgers will have a tougher decision to make between Kim and Freeland. Kim didn't win over Dodgers officials as quickly as Espinal and arguably still hasn't — which is a mystery to fans — but he's been far more consistent than Freeland.

Tommy Edman's timeline is still totally up in the air. The Dodgers provided their first update on him in a long time this week, but only shared that he's on a "slow program." So whoever survives the Betts crunch will have a little more time to prove that he deserves more time on the roster in the long run.

Espinal won't be that guy, though. He doesn't have options, so we'll likely be saying a permanent goodbye to him very soon.

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